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Max Verstappen says he is unlikely to challenge for the win at the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend after seeing Mercedes' pace in the second practice session.
The Silver Arrows were over seven-tenths of a second ahead when Thursday's running concluded, with Sebastian Vettel ending the day as the third fastest car.
MORE: FP2: Hamilton stays on top as Mercedes pulls clear | FP1: Hamilton narrowly leads Verstappen and Bottas
Verstappen missed out on a lot of running in the second session, as Red Bull had to replace his radiator following a leak
"I think we're still quick.," Verstappen said. "But in the second practice, when everyone went onto their second set [of tyres], we had a radiator leak.
"Some debris went into the airbox and damaged one of the radiators, so we had to replace it, but in general, it's okay."
Verstappen sets his sights on third place
While Verstappen thinks that Mercedes is too far out of reach, the Dutchman is hopeful that Red Bull will be able to challenge Ferrari for the final spot on the podium.
"I think Mercedes is too quick, but the big gap between second and third, we should fill that up.
"I don't think we can really put the pressure on them, but if we can be third in qualifying, then we can do good."
Verstappen managed to emerge from his garage towards the end of the session after Red Bull fixed his radiator.
The 21-year-old was heard over the radio stating that he had no grip, however Verstappen played down the complaint, stating it was nothing more than a setup direction that didn't work
"We did a setup change when changing the radiator to see if it would work or not, and it didn't work. I know if we go back to the other set up, it's not too bad.
"The balance is okay, they only broadcast the negative things. But in general, it was alright. You try some things in practice, some work and some don't."
The pace is there, but some debris caused trouble and we lost track time. Still some work to do #KeepPushing ?? #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/UhD9L8W1ku
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) May 23, 2019
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (3)
Login to replymcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
wow! Its a great trait to keep the spirit up even for 5 races against the unstoppable machine that is Mercedes.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Last year at Monaco he had an career defining event much like the great Senna had in Monaco. Both used that event as one that would allow them to improve themselves.
If Verstappen can be a threat towards Mercedes than he will have to nail Qualifying and lets hope that he can get in front of Bottas. Seeing a fight between Lewis and Max would be excellent. Bottas looks good on one lap pace however historically he doesn't race that great in Monaco.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
If Bottas wants to keep his title hopes alive he has to keep hitting win for win with HAM. Also it would be great for him to bank a win at Monaco and the title the same year. But yeah, this could be Hammy's year for the top step if the Red Bulls are out of it. VER has a chance to prove he has matured AND improved. He's mostly shown himself as a 'brute force' kind of driver instead of a finesse driver which just doesn't work at Monaco. The barriers and walls in Monaco are a lot less forgiving than bumping rubber tires or suspensions of his opponents. If he can have a clean weekend then my rating of him will go up. That being said, he has been good for the sport. He's brought an overall aggressiveness to the sport that had gotten lost in the past decade or so. It's been great to see drivers up and down the grid getting their elbows out race for their positions. People like to criticize KMag but he has less penalties than most other drivers. He is always there week after week fighting for his position, and makes others fight him for it if they want it. OK, so some of his moves might be questionable but he makes for a good show and he's staying mostly on the clean side of line.